


The Rose Speaks of Love Silently

by EthelPhantom



Series: As Its Thorns And Petals [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rose Souls, Angst with a Happy Ending, As does Marinette, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Jason Todd Deserves Better, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd Needs Love, MariBat, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Is a Sweetheart, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng deserves better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:53:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21818479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EthelPhantom/pseuds/EthelPhantom
Summary: As long as she could remember, her head had been filled with noise. Loud,loudnoise. It didn’t matter that everything else around her was quiet — the voices in her head never left her alone. At least they weren’t malevolent but rather kind. It didn’t help with her life though.The more she could find fallen soft petals around her, the louder the voices inside her head grew.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Jason Todd
Series: As Its Thorns And Petals [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572100
Comments: 14
Kudos: 327





	The Rose Speaks of Love Silently

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome (back) to this story! This is indeed the second part of this series, but you'll probably be fine reading this first as well. Some of the things are references to the first part so yeah. But anyway. This is pretty much the first chapter of Crimson as a Rose from Marinette's POV. It's kinda sad but like,,,, this is me we're talking about. Of course it's sad.

As long as she could remember, her head had been filled with noise. Loud,  _ loud _ noise. It didn’t matter that everything else around her was quiet — the voices in her head never left her alone. At least they weren’t malevolent but rather kind. It didn’t help with her life though.

The more she could find fallen soft petals around her, the louder the voices inside her head grew. 

She had once been told it was because she carried the rose and the creation miraculous — the single existing miraculous that could  _ only _ be wielded by someone with a Soul Rose. Few people with one existed these days, and even fewer were suitable for one since over half of the living Rose Souls were corrupted due to their lack of empathy and love. 

Of the few Rose Souls that were alive, she was the only one capable of love even after having lost most of her petals. No empathy left, that was sure, but somehow all of her love was stored in that one petal still hanging tight. 

Or, perhaps, that petal was still hanging tight for she refused to give into her wrath. 

She cradled her rose closely to her chest, tears falling down her cheeks and staining the dry ground. She wished for her capability of empathy to be back, but nothing she could think of could heal her. 

_ “It’s not that you were broken from the very beginning — no, dear, they broke you.” _

Those were the words that her master had told her before he had been murdered. Her own  _ partner _ had murdered her master,  _ their _ master. He had been the only one that knew about her Soul Rose aside from her parents who rejected her once they found out she had been fighting the evil that controlled their city, their life, and because of that, she now had no one left. 

_ There was no one left that she could go to.  _

Her only friends had forgotten about her. Perhaps that was for the better. As far as they were aware, she was a liar, a jealous bitch, someone who only wanted to manipulate all of them. All of them had told her they could not survive without her, that she was what kept them all glued together, but now it seemed like it didn’t matter to any of them. 

They had accepted the new girl in without a blink, without a second thought, and then they had given her — the one some of them had known for most their lives — spot to the new girl, the stranger none of them knew anything about. 

In class, in life, in their hearts, in their  _ souls _ .

_ Because Marinette could see their souls... _

_...She knew that was exactly what they had done. _

And so, there was now another everyday Ladybug sitting next to them, laughing alongside them; they ate her words from her palm like it was the sweetest nectar. It wasn’t like any of her words even held any truth to them, but somehow all of the people following her didn’t mind, didn’t care that she would never give them anything like Marinette had. Her replacement seemed to mean more to everyone than she ever did even though all of her words were just beautiful lies, but even so Marinette stayed. She decided she couldn’t go anywhere else — she still needed to be there to save them from the evil each new day.

She didn’t want to stay. She hated— no, she  _ loathed _ being there for there were memories everywhere in the city. But, while that was true, she could understand why it was important she had them. Marinette knew that she could learn from her past. She knew that she needed to stop trusting people so blindly. While being able to trust was beautiful, she knew she was not supposed to let her trust destroy her. 

And so she slowly learnt to value herself. She deserved better than them. 

And she would find something better than them, there was no question about that. 

At least she had all the kwamii with her. The kwamii, and the ever-present voices in her head. At least they loved her and cared about her when no one else could bother. 

_ Freak! _ , the people she once considered her friends screamed at her when they saw her speaking with someone when they could see no one.

_ It’s alright, love, they don’t deserve you _ , the voices in her head said. Tikki said they were the ghosts of the previous Ladybugs. Marinette smiled through the hate she got. 

_ You’re just jealous of Lila and all her achievements _ , they justified their actions and themselves as they denied her her right to defend herself and drove her away from everyone she could have once considered her friend. 

_ Don’t worry, there will one day come a person that sees you for you and your worth and they’ll love you more than anything in this world. On that day those people will regret ever letting go of you _ , the kwamii told her as she cried, wiping her tears away and cuddling up to her. 

But, even as the voices were kind to her, and even as the kwamii tried to love and comfort her, Marinette fell. She fell to her sadness and pain, she fell to her need of someone else. As the days passed by, she finally let go of her hope to find someone else, someone that could accept her and love her for  _ her _ and not for what she could give them. 

Or, so it was until  _ that day _ anyway. 

Marinette was wandering around, her small bag filled with different kinds of snacks she had made in case she found someone upset so she could make sure Papillon couldn’t get to them. She would rather not fight anyone today, thank you very much. 

Once she went home — a small cottage at the border of the forest — to get a refill of her snack stocks, she spotted a rose with no petals near it. It was clear to her from the very second she saw it that this was a Soul Rose. It screamed crimson to her, and she was sure that one day long ago its petals had been a beautiful crimson, just like blood was. 

And, for it indeed was a Soul Rose, it was clear that the Rose Soul it belonged to needed it.  _ Badly _ . The Rose wasn’t dead, so that meant its Soul was still alive as well. Rose Souls were never supposed to be apart from their Roses, and definitely not for as long as this Rose and its Soul had been. 

Thankfully, being a Rose Soul  _ and  _ the Soul of Creation meant that she was allowed to speak to Roses, even those that weren’t her own. Marinette asked the Rose where its Soul lived and how long they had been apart, and she got her answer as soon as she picked up the Rose for it could sense she was a safe Soul to talk to. As soon as it sensed that she was going to help, that she wanted to help its Soul and return it to them.

Marinette followed the Rose’s instructions and walked always deeper and deeper into the forest until she finally saw a hut there. A man hit its wall and pressed his head against it, clearly frustrated. Marinette lifted the Rose to her heart, listening as the Rose got excited when it could sense its Soul near, and she smiled. She had finally found a Rose Soul, the Rose Soul that needed its Rose back. 

She walked closer. A stick cracked under her feet, and the man whipped around to see her, staring as though he had seen a ghost. 

Marinette held the Rose close to her chest tightly but was careful to not harm it, and against her white dress, the rose with no petals stained in blood created quite the contrast. 

The man glared at her, looking like she was the filthiest scum of the earth, like he was somewhere between punching her, taking the flower from her and murdering her. She stretched her hand out to him and handed him the Rose gently, knowing he must have been anxious to find it.

She still had to admit, he was gorgeous — and that was a lot to say considering she had once known  _ Adrien _ , the man Parisians called the sex appeal personified. She would have felt bad for him, but she couldn’t bring herself to care — after all,  _ they weren’t friends _ . But perhaps… Perhaps this man in front of her with black locks, some of it dyed white, and the most icy blue eyes she had ever seen could be someone she could call a friend one day. 

_ She was allowed to hope even if the past seemed to say it was a bad idea. _

“Excuse me, I believe this belongs to you,” she said with a quiet voice, putting on a smile to make herself look less threatening. She couldn’t afford to have herself look like she was a threat to him, not what with her holding his Rose, his greatest weakness, his  _ soul _ in her hands. 

The man yanked it from her hands, causing the flower’s thorns scratch her and draw blood. She said nothing about it, only pressed her other hand against it in hopes she could stop the bleeding. She didn’t want to anger him by mentioning he had hurt her when he had only been protective of his Rose. It was understandable anyway. 

“How did you find it  _ or  _ this place, and how did you know it was mine?” he snapped, clutching the flower in his hands like it was his lifeline. Maybe it was.

She stood up proud and looked him straight in the eye even as he seemed to be trying to intimidate her. It was kind of working. Marinette was  _ not  _ about to let it stop her. So what if he was much bigger than her, so what if he looked like he could snap her in half without even trying? She was Ladybug, she wasn’t that easily driven away. She’d seen much scarier opponents in her life.

Besides… 

_ He was lonely. _

His Rose had talked about him to her. It had told her a little of his life, of him being abandoned and left behind, of his family not caring about him. How people drove him away and called him a freak. He had no one. He couldn’t even talk to his Rose. She wasn’t sure whether it was because he didn’t know how to, or if he didn’t even know it was possible if he learnt the right technique. 

Besides, Marinette needed the presence of another human in her life. He had a Rose, and his Rose — while corrupted and sorrowful — was not evil. He was not necessarily a  _ good  _ person in the sense everyone thought of it, but he most certainly was also not a bad person.

“Great. Now, get out of my sight, girl.”

She was not about to give up this easily. 

Marinette reached her hand out and grabbed him by his hand. “Wait, what’s your name?” she asked, giving his hand a light squeeze. She wanted to know at least this one thing before letting go.

He froze in the place and slowly turned around, staring at her. 

Marinette watched as words formed on his lips but no sound came out.  _ Why do you care? _ He seemed to ask. 

_ Because no one else does _ , she wanted to reply.

She didn’t have any time to react before he had already grabbed her wrist and lifted it above her head so high that she had to stand on her toes to touch the ground. She refused to let out a sound. He scowled at her, but she kept the eye contact. 

“The hell it concerns you. Go away, now. Shoo,” he said and let go of her wrist. She fell down, her Rose falling out of her bag. Marinette watched as the man stormed inside and slammed the door behind him shut so hard the walls shook and the forest echoed. She left a few snacks next to the door, safe for even animals to eat so even if it wasn’t him that took it, an animal could get a meal. 

Then she left, hoping to meet him again. As she rubbed her wrist, trying to ease the aching in it, she quietly swore to herself that she would befriend him and not let him be lonely anymore. 

It took a few days before she saw him again. She was sitting in a park watching the children play and run around when a man came and started harassing one of the mothers there. She waited a little, wanting to see if the woman would defend herself, but when she didn’t, Marinette stood up and started making her way to them. 

Only, the Rose Soul she had met earlier came in between and told the man to fuck off (to put it kindly, anyway). He helped the mother and asked if she was alright, but all she did was call her children to her and scream at him before leaving. Tell him that she didn’t need his help, that she didn’t need help from some creature that came from hell — a freak, a monster. 

Marinette was seething. This woman had no right to call him that no matter what he had done before (unless he had directly hurt her, then possibly) because right now he was helping. 

People were  _ despicable _ . 

But, as much as she would have liked to go tell the woman just what she thought about it, the Rose Soul mattered more. That was precisely why she instead went to the Rose Soul, addressing him.

“Are you alright?”, she asked, smiling at him with gentle eyes as he turned around. He seemed shocked to see her, and Marinette wasn’t sure whether that was because she was there or because she had asked how he was doing. The latter option sounded horrible. Had no one truly asked him that in such a long time? Had it truly been that long since another living human being had cared about him? 

“None of your business, kid. Leave me alone.”

“I’m not a girl though, I’m an adult. And yes, it is very much my business — I saw your Rose. You’ve been hurt so much you’ve lost yourself.”

He seemed to be fighting himself, trying to decide whether he should tell her everything or leave right that second. 

“Why are you so damn persistent about this?”

“Because I want to be your friend. Now, what’s your name? I’m Marinette.”

“That… that’s such a horrible decision, wanting to get close to me.”

“Oh well, would not be my first horrible decision,” she told him sneering quietly as she remembered how she had decided to be friends with untrustworthy people. Then she digged out a small box of colourful cookies, offering them to the man. “Do you want a macaron?”

The man reached out his hand before jerking it back, unsure of whether he should take one or not. Marinette shook the box lightly, still in front of him, urging him to just pick one. It took him a while to actually take one and even longer before he took a bite, but when he did, she could just almost see his Rose glow with warmth and joy it had not gotten to experience in a long time. 

Marinette beamed as he ate the rest of the macaron, happy to see him enjoy it. 

“Do you like it?” she asked, tilting her head and kept her smile on her face. Marinette wanted to step closer to him and touch him, maybe hug him as it seemed he had not gotten positive human contact in a long while, but consciously forced herself to stay back. She needed to respect his boundaries that she didn’t even really know yet, she didn’t know where he set them. That’s why it was all the more important for her to make sure she didn’t disrespect him. 

“Yes… It was good,” he responded, eyeing her closely. She hoped that whatever it was that he was looking for in her turned out to be positive. Heaven knows both of them needed another human being near them. 

Marinette felt Tikki nudging her leg from inside her bag. Yes… Tikki was there for her. No matter what happened here, Tikki would still be there and Marinette wouldn’t be left alone. 

Unlike this Soul. 

She clapped her hands and squealed. “I’m so glad you liked it! I was afraid you wouldn’t, but it seems my worries were unfounded.”

And finally,  _ finally _ Marinette could see a smile forming on his face. It was small, barely there, but she counted it as a victory. And besides, he looked absolutely gorgeous when he smiled. It was much better than she could have ever even hoped for. 

“So, what’s your name?” she asked once more, looking deep into his icy blue eyes, looking at the corruption that was his beautiful soul. She took a rose with only few crimson petals, all of them looking like she had dipped them in the blue of the sky and presented it to him. She knew he recognised it immediately as one of the few roses that held someone’s soul on this earth. 

_ Because indeed, she too was one of the very few souls that were personifications of roses, and she decided the best course of action was to trust him with her secret without really even knowing him. She trusted him with her greatest weakness. _

After a long, silent while, the man took his eyes off the rose in her hand and looked at her instead, eyes wide. “Jason,” the hesitating, broken voice said. How long had it already been since he last time told someone his name…? How long had it already been since someone last time  _ asked for his name _ ?

_ But regardless, Marinette already loved his name. _

Marinette reached out her hand to him, waiting for him to take it. When he hesitatingly placed his hand in her own, his Rose appeared in the air in front of them, and she watched in wonder as a crimson petal took from and reattached itself to the petalless Rose. 

A tear rolled down Jason’s cheek as Marinette smiled. He repeated his words, told her his name with the barest hint of a faint smile on his face, and at that moment, Marinette was sure she couldn’t have been happier. 

“ _ My name is Jason.” _

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I at least had fun writing this. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, and by the way, if you've got any ideas for this series or anything you want to see happen, _please _tell me, either here or on my tumblr. I've got like, one, and that's just Jason's new nickname for Mari, nothing more. Oh well.__
> 
> _  
> _Do come scream at me on my[tumblr](https://ethelphantom.tumblr.com/) if you want to!_  
>  _


End file.
